Mom who drove children into ocean off Daytona still hospitalized

Saturday

May 3, 2014 at 12:07 PMMay 3, 2014 at 6:31 PM

The pregnant woman accused of driving her minivan with her frightened children inside into the rolling surf off Daytona Beach remains at Halifax Health Medical Center as the Public Defender's Office seeks the original video of the incident.

By Frank Fernandezfrank.fernandez@news-jrnl.com

DAYTONA BEACH — The pregnant woman accused of driving her minivan with her frightened children inside into the rolling surf off Daytona Beach remains at Halifax Health Medical Center as the Public Defender's Office seeks the original video of the incident.Ebony Wilkerson, 32, has been charged with three counts of attempted second-degree murder and three counts of child abuse. Wilkerson was arrested on March 7, three days after videos showed her driving the van into the rough surf and rescuers rushing to help.But attorneys are still looking for the “original” video of the incident, Public Defender James Purdy said last week.“The original video that started the whole national news coverage that the man made while sitting in the car on the beach, to my knowledge, the State Attorney's Office does not have the original unedited version of that,” Purdy said. “It has not received it from the person who took it.”But David Smith, chief of operations for the State Attorney’s Office, wondered what was the meaning of “original” in this day of ubiquitous cellphone videos.“I don't know what you can call an original video anymore,” Smith said. “We have every video we can find.”Smith said that prosecutors would be glad to give all of them to Purdy's office.Purdy said that Wilkerson is now in her eight month of pregnancy. She was taken to Halifax Health in March after Volusia County corrections officers said she struck herself in the stomach. Purdy has said the fact that Wilkerson was left naked in a cell for seven hours put into context the situation. Jail officials said they took away her suicide gown because she kept covering the cell window.Purdy also said that if there is any decision to send her back to the Volusia County Branch Jail public defenders would receive 24 hour notice to argue for her $1.2 million bail to be reduced.Wilkerson was arrested on charges of first-degree attempted murder but prosecutors filed lesser charges of second-degree attempted murder. The lesser charges gives public defenders a stronger argument to reduce her bail, Purdy said. “So I would think that a bond reduction would be appropriate when we reach that point,” Purdy said.Purdy also said that the only versions of the video's he has seen are the ones on YouTube and on television.“We don't know that they are complete, if they cover the entire thing, if they have been sped up, if they have been slowed down,” Purdy said.He said one television broadcast sped up the video, apparently, so they could squeeze it into a shorter segment.“They sped up the video where it looks like instead of going 10 mph it looks like she went 50 mph,” Purdy said.He added that the lack of an original uncut, unedited video could be cause for a motion to exclude the video from any trial.“That's a possibility,” Purdy said.